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communication:bandwidth_conservation [2016/12/01 17:06] frater_secessus created |
communication:bandwidth_conservation [2021/12/17 20:50] princess_fluffypants [Bandwidth conservation] |
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+ | Note: this page was initially based on [[https:// | ||
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====== Bandwidth conservation ====== | ====== Bandwidth conservation ====== | ||
+ | Similar to dealing with [[water: | ||
+ | Here are the most common factors: | ||
+ | * Cost - on metered or capped plans going over can be expensive | ||
+ | * Availability - sometimes the connection is sketchy or has too many users for the size of the pipe. | ||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | ===== Conserving Mobile Data ===== | ||
- | ===== conserving mobile data ===== | + | **What takes up a lot of bandwidth? |
+ | tl-dr: **Video.** Anything to do with video consumes // | ||
+ | If you can reduce or eliminate any kind of video data usage, you've made the problem of data vastly smaller already. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Professional-quality photo uploading can also take a lot of bandwidth, but it's still nowhere in the same range as video. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **What DOESN' | ||
+ | |||
+ | tl-dr: **Anything that isn't video.** Even audio streaming is barely a drop in the bucket; a 2-hour-long podcast is 20-30mb while a 2-hour-long movie is // | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== General tips for reducing data usage ==== | ||
+ | (Aside from avoiding video) | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Use cell phones or mobile devices when possible, instead of laptops. | ||
+ | * Mobile web browsers and apps are generally formatted and designed to be more efficient about data usage, and most web sites will have mobile-optimized versions that are more lightweight. | ||
+ | * You can sometimes fake this on some desktop web browsers by using extensions to trick them into fetching the mobile versions of web pages, or by doing it manually with specific web addresses (for example, https:// | ||
+ | * You may want to hack that behavior by sending a false [[https:// | ||
+ | * Turn off data usage when not needed | ||
+ | * Modern devices are very " | ||
+ | * When going to bed or when you know you're not using the device for a while, turn off just the data connection. | ||
+ | * This means that you may not get notified immediately when someone posts a new cat picture, however SMS and phone calls will still come through (as those operate on a push notification from the cellular network, rather than a pull from the phone) | ||
+ | * Many cell phones will have options for "Low Data Mode", which will attempt to limit or stop this background behavior as well. | ||
+ | * Offline Navigation | ||
+ | * There are **offline navigation apps** like [[https:// | ||
+ | * Google maps will let you download certain map tiles for offline use. This would work best if you are in the same areas but would be less useful while traveling. | ||
+ | * Use add blockers | ||
+ | * The [[https:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | === stripping out extraneous junk === | ||
+ | Ads and scripts can be blocked with [[https:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | Some will let you " | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | === element blocking === | ||
+ | Most browsers will allow you to block content like Flash or multimedia by default. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | === use mobile sites === | ||
+ | |||
+ | You can try to force the use of a mobile site even if you are on a computer. Mobile sites tend to be cleaner, simpler, and generally less gunked up with bandwith hogging multimedia. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The traditional way mobile sites were/are denoted was with the prefix " | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
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+ | === compression proxies === | ||
+ | |||
+ | A compression proxy runs between you and the internet and optimizes / compresses web content to save bandwidth. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Note: **HTTPS (encrypted) traffic cannot be optimized** by third parties because it is encrypted and the proxy can't see what it is. | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | If you are technically minded and have a server somewhere you can run your own compression proxy using freeware like ziproxy. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The [[https:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | A german ISP runs [[https:// | ||
+ | ==== email frugality ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Before the advent of “webmail” (email read from a webpage) people used email “clients” (programs) to connect to email servers and pull down their email. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Common email clients include Outlook for Windows and [[https:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Find the POP (sometimes called POP3) settings for your webmail provider. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are several bandwidth-saving features built into most clients: | ||
+ | * **download " | ||
+ | * **download last X days** - if you are downloading from an established mailbox and choose something like " | ||
+ | * **deselect " | ||
+ | * **deselect " | ||
+ | * if your feed is really minimal you can save a few KB by writing and replying to email in **plain text rather than HTML**. | ||
+ | * You can also save a few KB by **trimming quoted material** from prior emails. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Many of these settings will be available in webmail also. | ||
+ | ==== podcast frugality ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Podcasts consume much less bandwidth than video but savings still can be had. | ||
+ | |||
+ | If given a choice, **OGG/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Choose the podcast episodes you want to hear instead of automatically downloading all the episodes. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== video frugality ==== | ||
+ | **Streaming is evil** when bandwidth is limited. Some networking gear is socket-limited; | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | If you can, download the media during off-hours; | ||
+ | |||
+ | Some streaming services allow you to download for offline consumption. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | === YouTube frugality === | ||
+ | |||
+ | Force YouTube video quality down as far as you can stand. | ||
+ | |||
+ | You can [[source: | ||
+ | |||
+ | youtube-dl -f ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | For " | ||
+ | * '' | ||
+ | * '' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Pulling down audio only when possible can save 90% or more bandwidth. | ||
+ | |||
+ | If you need both audio and video, those pieces can be pulled down separately and combined for absolute smallest filesize: | ||
+ | |||
+ | * '' | ||
==== android ==== | ==== android ==== | ||
- | "On recent versions of Android (last couple of years) you can pull up the Settings | Apps menu and select the unwanted app. If it was preinstalled you can probably Disable it, which will lock it down. If it was installed afterwards you can Uninstall it from there. | + | "On recent versions of Android (last couple of years) you can pull up the **Settings | Apps** menu and select the unwanted app. If it was preinstalled you can probably |
This will stop the creeping background data use and battery consumption. | This will stop the creeping background data use and battery consumption. | ||
- | If you only want to control sneaky data use you can go to Settings | Mobile Data (or Data Usage, depending) and select any apps you see listed as being hogs. Tap on the hog and Restrict app background data. It will still be able to use mobile data when you are using the app but not when you are not interacting with it. Apps that you intend to run in the background (email, texting, nav, google services, streaming, whatever) should keep access to background data." | + | If you only want to control sneaky data use you can go to **Settings | Mobile Data** (or **Data Usage**, depending) and select any apps you see listed as being hogs. Tap on the hog and **Restrict app background data**. It will still be able to use mobile data when you are using the app but not when you are not interacting with it. |
+ | |||
+ | Note: Apps that you //intend// to run in the background (email, texting, nav, google services, streaming, whatever) should keep access to background data." | ||
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===== conserving wifi data ===== | ===== conserving wifi data ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Wifi is a shared resource**, one that is often free as a service to customers. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The tips for Mobile Data also apply on wifi, but there are couple of chokepoints in a shared resources like wifi: | ||
+ | |||
+ | * **upload congestion** - for technical reasons downloading from the internet also requires some upstream traffic. | ||
+ | * **interference** - wifi is radio frequency in the microwave range. | ||
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